Target ads to geographic locations

Google Ads location targeting allows your ads to appear in the geographic locations that you choose: countries, areas within a country, a radius around a location, or location groups, which can include places of interest, your business locations or tiered demographics.

Location targeting helps you focus your advertising on the areas where you'll find the right customers, and restrict it in areas where you won't. This specific type of targeting could help increase your return on investment (ROI) as a result.

When it comes to advertising on Google Ads, consider the estate agent adage: "Location, location, location!" Regardless of how great your ad is, it probably won't perform as well if it doesn't appear in the right places. Reach your customers where they are and where your business can serve them by using Google Ads location targeting. You can set and then adjust your location targeting settings at any time.

Targeting the right locations for your business

Get guidance on choosing the location targets that are most appropriate for your business.

See more details below about each location targeting level and the types of businesses that could be a good fit.

Location target

Description

Types of businesses that could benefit

Types of businesses that might not benefit

Countries

Targeting your ads to a country or multiple countries can be a good idea if you provide products and services to those large areas. Targeting entire countries allows you to receive more ad exposure than you would by targeting a few individual cities or regions within a country.

A national business serving an entire country

An online retailer delivering worldwide

An international business selling to several countries

A business that doesn't serve all regions or cities. In this case, you might target individual regions or cities instead.

Areas within a country

Consider using more precise targeting if your business doesn't serve all regions or cities, or you'd like to focus your advertising efforts on certain areas within a country. Depending on the country, you can target regions, cities or postcodes.

A business that serves a local neighbourhood

A business with special offers in selected locations

A business selling products in selected regions or cities

A business that is trying to reach most of the regions in a country, with just a few exceptions (say, all of the US except Alaska). In this case, it might be better to target the whole country, and then exclude the other areas.

Radius around a location

Radius targeting (also known as proximity targeting or "Target a radius") allows you to choose to show your ads to customers within a certain distance from your business, rather than choosing individual cities, regions or countries.

A business that delivers within a selected radius

A local business whose customer base is within a radius around the business

A business that only wants to reach specific cities, regions or countries.

Make sure that you target the locations where your customers are – which isn't necessarily the same place that your business is located. For example, if you own an e-commerce company, target all the locations that you deliver to, not just where your business is physically located.

If you target an area where your business isn't located, you won't be able to see your ad when you search on Google.com. However, you can use the Ad Preview and Diagnosis Tool to find your ad.

If you target a small radius, your ads might only show intermittently or not at all. That’s because small targets might not meet our targeting criteria.

It's also a good idea to keep your language and location targeting settings consistent. For example, if you're targeting English-speaking users in England, then remember to target the English language, and make sure that your ads are written in English.

Example:

Adrian wants to advertise his hotel in Spain to English-speaking customers who live in the United Kingdom. He targets his ads to the UK and writes his ads in English.

Enter the name of the location that you'd like to target. If you're entering a city name, add the country name as well. You don't want to target Paris, France, if you're trying to sell cowboy hats to customers in Paris, Texas.

Selecting a radius

When you target a radius, it's worth bearing in mind that selecting a small radius could mean that your ads might only show intermittently or not at all. That’s because small targets might not meet our targeting criteria.

From the page menu on the left, click Locations.

Click the name of the campaign that you wish to edit.

Click the blue pencil icon, then select Radius.

In the search box, enter the address of the location that you'd like to use for the centre of the radius. Enter the radius that you'd like to target and select a unit of measurement from the drop-down menu.

Check the map to make sure that you're targeting the correct area. When you're ready, click Save to add the radius target.

Click Save

Advanced: Targeting multiple locations in bulk

Google Ads allows you to add a bulk list of up to 1,000 location targets at a time, rather than adding each location one by one. We also offer tools for bulk editing. Click on an option below to find out more.

Click the name of the campaign that you wish to edit, then click the blue pencil icon.

Tick the box next to 'Add multiple locations'.

In the box, paste or type the names of up to 1000 locations that you'd like to target (with each location on a separate line), and add locations from one country at a time. See the list of locations that can be targeted.

To target more than 1000 locations, you can add location targets in bulk multiple times. For example, if you'd like to target 1,200 locations, add your first 1,000 location targets. When you've finished, add the remaining 200 locations.

To target a city or postcode, include the full name of the country or state as well – for example, Oxford, England or 94103, California.

If you wish to restrict your results to one country, click the field below the location entry box and select your desired country.

Click Search.

We'll display all locations that matched your search in the review panel. Review your results, then click Target All to target all of the locations that matched your search, or Exclude all to exclude all of the locations that matched your search. To target individual locations from the review panel, click Target next to the location that you wish to add as a target.

If you searched for any location targets that weren't found, you'll find them in the box in which you entered the list of locations.

Clicking the grey “x” button will remove all locations from the review panel, as well as from your existing location targets or location exclusions.

Under 'Targeted locations', you'll see the location targets that you've just added.